South Wales Echo letters: Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Your letters to the South Wales Echo

So peaceful! Caerphilly Castle – picture sent in by Colin Pugh, of Llanedeyrn

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Sufficient onsite parking for planned city mosque

In response to the recent media reports and anonymous leafleting of residents in the area with regards to the mosque planned for Sanatorium Road, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association UK would wish to correct many of the mis-representations of fact which have been quoted.

First, and most fundamental, is that planning permission for the change of use was granted on March 13, 2015, for the former offices and warehouse of Ian Williams Ltd. in Sanatorium Road (which is an industrial and commercial area) to be used as a “Place of Worship” i.e. a Mosque. This application was properly advertised and consulted upon at that time. It establishes the principle of use of the site by the Ahmadyya community in Cardiff, which is a small community of around 150 members that cannot pray at or attend any other mosque in the city.

The second misconception is regarding traffic. The number of vehicular movements per day will in fact be less than those occurring when the premises were used as building maintenance offices and warehousing for a large painting and decoration contractor. Furthermore, the proposed use will certainly generate far less “rush hour” traffic than the previous use, with prayers spread out over the course of the day. The fact that other premises in the vicinity along Sanatorium Road appear to have insufficient parking is no fault of the Ahmadiyya community. The planning application provides sufficient parking onsite for the proposed use in accordance with the council’s guidance and national planning policies.

A subsequent planning application was necessary to deal with the finer points of detail relating solely to the practicalities of the onsite parking layout, modifications to the internal layout and external appearance of the existing buildings and the incorporation of an onsite residence for the imam.

It is true that a previous planning application earlier this year was refused but not because the residence was too small but that the council planning officers had concerns over the orientation of the residence and the size of its associated private amenity space which was to be insufficient. How many flats over the shop in the city have little or no amenity space? Also no travel plan had been submitted.

These two issues have been addressed within the current application and the private amenity space now exceeds that required in the council’s latest planning policies and guidance. As to the question of traffic and parking, a formal travel plan has also been submitted.

At a subsequent meeting between the consultants and council officers, the officers actually requested that the number of onsite parking places be reduced by 14% of what was proposed and also that two of the parking spaces to be provided are to be reserved for the imam’s residence.

We would urge anybody who is interested to read the entire planning application submission and supporting documents, which will provide answers to and allay many of the questions and concerns raised.

For more information regarding the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community please visit the official website: http://www.loveforallhatredfornone.org/

Dr Ata Ur Rehman Maaz

President Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, Cardiff, St Fagans

Too much like the Commons

as an observer of the weekly programme on TV of the proceedings of the Assembly, I criticise its imitation of the House of Commons and Prime Minister’s Questions.

The First Minister is posed questions on a variety of matters and answers them, but there is no debate to amend or challenge the response, and there is no facility for an AM to initiate a policy.

As a Cardiff councillor, I challenged an existing policy on issues, and used the procedure of council, which met monthly, to raise a debate of 10 minutes, to change it, often with success. The system lasted more than 100 years.

It would benefit the Assembly to introduce the debating principle.

F John Smith

Grangetown

Royals can afford home improvements

British taxpayers have been told they will be paying for the refurbishment at Buckingham Palace costing over 10 years an estimated £369m, a figure that by the time the work is completed will probably have escalated higher, this after the taxpayer paid £4.5m in 2012/13 for the refurbishing of 20 rooms in Kensington Palace so Prince William and family could live in comfort – although they were quick to point out they paid for their own curtains and furnishings.

Surely the best solution when there is a severe housing shortage, patients parked on trolleys in hospital corridors and more help needed for disabled and mentally ill people would be to get the Royals to dig into their very full pockets. I am sure the Queen would not miss a few trinkets.

And on another point, the Royal Family, like the House of Lords, was never elected to office by us.

Ray Jones

Ely

Tory cuts have hit local services hard

Have you watched your local public services disappear and wondered how this represents progress?

It might be that the library is cutting back on its opening hours; or the household waste centre has shut and so has the youth club. Neighbours who find it difficult to get dressed or cook their own food might not be getting the assistance they need and now there are fewer social workers to protect children at risk.

This bleak picture is the reality for Welsh communities because of UK Conservative spending cuts and it’s likely to get worse. Austerity has a terrible social cost and we need the help of Welsh government to come to the aid of local authorities. 23,700 council jobs have been lost in Wales since 2010. Unison is presenting a petition at the Senedd to pressurise the Welsh Government, as it finalises its budget today, to give the country the public services it deserves. We need the Welsh Government to increase funding to councils to at least 2013/14 levels in real terms and also to encourage local authorities to use existing powers to raise money by providing services to other parts of the public sector and private sector in Wales.

We want a halt to the UK government austerity programme. If you feel the same way, please tell your local councillor, Assembly Member and Member of Parliament.